Russian FM: US-Russia ties worse than during Cold War

Russia’s top diplomat says that the relations with the United States are now even worse than during the Cold War times because of a lack of mutual respect

MOSCOW -- Russia's top diplomat said Wednesday that relations with the United States are now even worse than during the Cold War times because of a lack of mutual respect. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that Moscow stands ready to normalize ties with Washington, but warned that the U.S. should stop posturing like a “sovereign” rallying its allies against Russia and China. He warned that if the U.S. shuns a mutually respectful dialogue on the basis of a balance of interests, “we would live in conditions of a ‘Cold War’ or worse." “During the Cold War, the tensions were flying high and risky crisis situations often emerged, but there was also a mutual respect,” Lavrov said in an interview with the Russian state television. “It seems to me there is a deficit of it now.”